by Logan Jacobs
“Is that what it feels like when I cure you?” she asked. “That felt different from when you just magnify our own powers.”
“Wow, you really do everything.” Lavinia smirked at me.
“The petition,” Maruk reminded us.
Aerin trudged into the clearing and stood silently for a moment. Then she turned towards us, and said, “It’s easier without an audience.”
“Right,” Maruk agreed. We turned our backs and shuffled our feet in the dirt. I decided to investigate the bushes where Merlin was currently rustling around, and Emeline shifted her attention to the book. Maruk joined her, commenting on the beautiful script of the ancient Elves.
Merlin had just emerged from the depths of the shrub with a handful of small purple berries when I heard the sound of chimes and felt a sudden warmth and a feeling of ease that I recognized as Theira’s presence. I trotted back to the clearing, with Merlin on my shoulder. He chittered happily in between berries, and I shared his enthusiasm.
“Shadow Foxes,” Theira greeted us. Her silver aura looked larger than it had the last time we met, and I wondered at the amount of power I could see coursing around her. Aerin was on her knees, head bowed, and the rest of my guild stood nearby, heads bowed as if in prayer. Except for Dehn, who openly gawked at Theira.
“Theira,” I exclaimed as I joined the group. “We need your help.”
“So I see,” the goddess replied as she took in the state of our troop. Lavinia looked up at her and crossed her arms. Maruk nudged her in the ribs when she opened her mouth, and she shot him a withering look.
“She’s a goddess,” Maruk whispered, though the place was so quiet that everyone heard him.
“Damn fine one,” Dehn declared, which earned him a kick in the shins from Yvaine.
Merlin chortled at the rest of us and dropped from my shoulders. He ran to Theira, and after a nod from the goddess, scampered up her dress to her shoulder. She smiled at him and gave him a scratch between the ears that had him purring in delight.
“Theira,” Merlin chirruped.
“About that help,” I began.
“First, we should tend to your wounds,” Theira replied. “And then, Gabriel, I will send you to the castle to retrieve the knife of the Shodra.”
“Why just Gabriel?” the halfling demanded.
“Only a manipulator may safely retrieve the knife,” Theira replied, even as the glade filled with her silver light. Dehn sputtered in protest, but then Theira’s energy filled us. I could see the goddess’s power as it moved through my body, a bright silver light that ran along my nerves and filled my veins. I felt warm and safe, and all the tension slipped away from me.
When the light faded, my vision slowly returned to normal. I glanced around and saw what looked like bits of silver glitter still clinging to everyone. My team moved slowly at first, as if coming out of a deep trance.
“Wow,” Aerin finally mumbled, which seemed to wake up everyone else.
“Now,” Theira said as she turned towards me and clapped her hands. “You must retrieve the knife quickly. The bridge will only exist for one hour.”
“Why only one hour?” I asked.
“Those were the terms of the spell,” Theira replied.
“But you could just make it reappear for another hour, right?” Lavinia protested.
“Not right away,” Theira explained. “The spell was designed so that if someone did make it across, they would either be trapped on the island or forced to leave quickly.”
“Do you know the location of the knife?” I asked hopefully. Theira pointed towards the tallest tower. “Of course,” I sighed.
We trudged back to the shore of the lake with Theira floating gracefully in the lead. She guided us to a flat gray rock that jutted out into the lake. We’d clambered over it and around it during our investigation of the lake, and I’d assumed it was just a natural formation. Looking more closely, I realized that it could have been carved, and Theira gave me a nod as I suddenly understood. This had been part of the original bridge.
Theira lifted an arm and whispered a few words that I didn’t understand. The air in front of her seemed to coalesce, weaving together as the goddess continued to chant. When she stopped, a bridge made of the same glass-like material as the castle arced across the lake. It reminded me of the Golden Gate Bridge back home, with a great tower at either end, and a web of cables in between. The road was wide enough to be a six-lane highway, and I could imagine how this sight must have impressed those who came upon it after trekking through the woods.
“One hour,” Theira reminded me.
I nodded and took my first tentative step onto the bridge. I glanced at the Shadow Foxes and gave them my best shit-eating grin. Merlin chittered impatiently and hopped from Theira’s shoulder. He ran onto the bridge and looked back at me.
“Merlin, come back,” I called.
“He should be okay,” Theira assured me. “As long as he stays near you.”
“What about the rest of us?” Lavinia demanded.
“No,” Theira replied. “Only the puca.”
“I’ll be back before you know it,” I told my guild. With a nod to the goddess, I strode after the puca. Merlin waited for me to catch up, his tail twitching impatiently.
“I’m blaming any trouble we run into on you,” I told the puca.
Merlin sneezed and marched along next to me. His chitters soon became the only sound I could hear. There was no breeze, no birds, not even the creaking of the cables.
The city itself was no different. It was even more beautiful up close, but deathly quiet. I realized that the glass-like material had been etched with fantastic scenes that covered most of the surfaces. Some seemed to be of the surrounding forest, others of the elves themselves. A few still had what looked like flecks of paint, and I guessed that all these images had probably been brightly colored back in the day.
I had to force myself to look away from the images and find the tower that held the knife. It was near what I guessed was the center of the castle, and the only obvious way to get there was through a pair of massive doors set into a second wall. I pushed on one of the doors, and it slowly creaked open. A cloud of dust drifted down, and both Merlin and I sneezed. I waited, but nothing else moved.
“I guess we really are alone,” I said to the puca.
“Alone,” the puca echoed sadly. He stuck his nose through the open door, then took a few more steps inside. I followed in his wake, one hand on the hilt of my knife. The place was well lit, even on the inside, and I guessed it was the same spell that made the outer walls shimmer. We made our way through a long hallway where bits and pieces of furniture still stood.
A grand, winding staircase sat at the far end of the hall, and I had hoped that this might lead to the tower, but Merlin walked on past. I whistled to him to come back, but he frowned and kept going, entering another long hallway. I tried calling to him again, but this time I heard the sound of clanging metal and the startled shriek of a puca in reply. I bolted after my wayward friend, and burst into the room. Merlin had shifted into his dog form, and he was barking madly at a suit of armor. The armor was swinging an axe at the puca and doing well enough that Merlin had lost a few inches of hair.
I pulled my knife out and brought the mana blade to life. As soon as I did, the suit of armor stopped its attack. Then it returned to the spot where it had previously stood, as if nothing had happened. I tried to see the spell that animated it, but whatever it was, it had faded.
“I guess that’s why she told you to stay close to me, kiddo,” I told Merlin. Merlin trotted over to the suit of armor, gave it one last bark, then trotted back to me.
“We need to find that tower,” I pointed out. “Are you sure this is the way?”
“The way,” Merlin repeated as he shifted back to his normal shape.
“Well, stay close this time,” I chided. The puca took the lead again, his tail in the full upright position. I noticed that he stayed closer this time
, even stopping occasionally to make sure I kept pace.
Merlin’s sense of magic was as accurate as ever, and we were soon climbing what felt like the stair-stepper from hell. I was panting heavily by the time the staircase finally leveled out, and I actually dropped into a chair that sat near one of the windows. I glanced outside and realized that this had to be the tallest building I’d been inside in this world. I could still see my companions on the distant shore, but they looked tiny.
I finally glanced around the room I was in. Aside from the chair, there was only a small table, the remnants of a rug, and a pair of shelves. A few books sat on the shelves, but the paper had nearly disintegrated in most of them. I found one that was still intact, written in the Elvish text, no doubt protected by a spell. I dropped it into my sack, along with a set of finely carved jade bracelets that sat on the desk. There was nothing that looked like a knife.
“Where is it?” I asked the puca.
Merlin looked as confused as I felt. He clearly sensed that the knife was nearby, but he couldn’t find it. I looked more slowly around the room, scanning each square inch. I almost missed it again, but there, just behind one of the shelves, was the faded glow of an old spell. I placed my hand over the spot, but this spell didn’t disintegrate right away. I pictured my mana working into the magic seal and breaking it apart. I felt my mana respond, but the seal still resisted.
I stepped back and looked at it again. I was debating what to do when I felt a warmth on my chest. I pulled the chain out from my shirt and saw that the Shodra was glowing. The stone on the wall started glowing more brightly as well.
I placed my hand back on the wall while I held the Shodra in my other hand. The energy that flowed through me the moment I touched the seal felt a thousand times stronger than anything I’d felt before. The seal didn’t wink out, like I was used to, but seemed to expand until it blew apart. The room filled with a bright green light that left me momentarily blinded.
I let go of the wall, and the amulet. The light faded to reveal a small niche. Lying inside was a silver dagger, as wicked looking as it was beautiful. Elvish letters glittered in gold along the hilt, and a dragon had been etched into the blade. I used my mana knife to cut a small piece from the rug and carefully wrapped the knife in it. I dropped it into my bag, then scooped up the amulet and put it back on.
“We better get going,” I said to Merlin as I looked out the window. The bridge was still there, but the sun was noticeably lower than it had been before.
Merlin clattered down the stairs, and I ran after him. I was breathing hard when we hit the bottom step, but Merlin was moving with a real sense of urgency now, so I kept on his tail as best as I could. We moved back through the eerie castle, and I noticed that the glow seemed to be fading from the walls.
It felt like it took twice as long to leave, though I knew we were moving faster than we had been when we’d arrived. We darted through the double doors and back into the sunshine. I could see the bridge, and Merlin and I both ran towards it as fast as we could.
This time, I felt the bridge shiver when we stepped onto it. I could hear the rest of the Shadow Foxes urging us on, and I saw Aerin glance nervously at the sky. We were about to lose our hour of allotted time, and I said a quick prayer to Theira and anyone else who might be listening that we would make it across.
We were halfway there when the bridge started to shimmer. Merlin squawked and then jumped into the air. He changed into the shape of a black hawk and shot upwards, his wings beating hard to give him height. Stuck in my poor human form, there was nothing for me to do but keep moving forward. Aerin was waving frantically now, and I saw Maruk was hauling one of the trees knocked down by the golem towards the water.
My next step came down on nothing. I felt like Wile E. Coyote, stuck out in the air, defying the laws of gravity for just the teensiest second, before I started plummeting down towards the water below. A shadow passed overhead, and before I could look up, something grabbed me in one large, taloned hand. I twisted around to see what had caught me, and Merlin’s distinctive gold eyes looked back. He had changed again, this time into a shiny black dragon.
Merlin dropped me unceremoniously on the lakeside, smack in the middle of a large puddle of mud. Maruk was the first to get there, and he hefted me to my feet.
“Ah,” he wailed. “I’m afraid your cloak may be ruined.”
“At least it was just the cloak,” Lavinia said as she joined him. “At least we’re not having to fish him out of the water.”
“I can’t believe he did it,” Aerin added. “I didn’t think he could change into such a large shape.”
“Neither did I,” I replied.
The “he” in question descended then. He clearly wasn’t comfortable with trying to fly in full-sized dragon form, and his landing kicked up a spray of mud that splattered the rest of us.
“My finest chambray!” Maruk protested as he tried to wipe the mud from his shirt.
“Why would you wear that while we were on a mission?” Lavinia demanded.
“It’s a castle built by elves,” Maruk sighed. “It should be civilized.”
“It was,” I said quietly.
“Look,” Aerin called out. She was pointing towards the castle, and we all turned. The light was fading much more quickly now, and the glass was turning into a more ordinary grey stone.
“I take it you found the knife,” Yvaine said.
“I did,” I replied. “Two down, two to go.”
“Well, I think I know where we need to go next,” Emeline said.
We all turned towards the panthera woman. She twisted a lock of her dark hair nervously between her fingers and blushed at the sudden attention.
“Are there more monsters?” Dehn demanded.
“Uh, I guess so,” Emeline stuttered.
“Well, where are we going?” Lavinia asked.
“When Theira healed us, I heard her say that we should look to the sea to find the chalice,” Emeline explained. She pulled out Professor Hayle’s book and flipped through the pages. “Professor Hayle translated several old passages that mention an ancient seaport on the southern coast. The port was supposed to be protected by a powerful magic for a really long time, until a human manipulator stole the source of the spell.”
“That would match with the Shodra,” Yvaine agreed.
“But if the manipulator stole it, where did he take it?” Lavinia asked.
“We have a starting point,” I said. “Maybe we can track it from there.”
“The southern coast is quite large,” Maruk sighed. “We can’t just go from town to town.”
“There’s a map,” Emeline replied.
“Of course there is,” Lavinia sighed.
“It won’t match up perfectly with what’s there today, but I think I there’s enough that we can find the old seaport,” Emeline said. She chewed on her lip thoughtfully for a moment. “Yes, I can definitely lead us to the original site.”
“We still have some daylight,” I mused as I glanced towards the sky. “And we have the horses. I think we should head for the coast.”
“Now?” Maruk looked offended. “But we’re covered in mud. Surely a bath is in order before we plan any further adventures.”
“It’s just mud,” Dehn stomped. “I need to see some blood. Let’s go find this whatever it is.”
“Chalice,” Emeline and Lavinia both said.
“I wouldn’t mind a bath myself,” Yvaine protested.
“Imagine that--” Aerin said.
“Guys,” I interrupted before things devolved into a fistfight.
“We should find the chalice,” Lena said into the ensuing silence. “Theira didn’t speak to me, as she did to Emeline, but I felt that there was a great urgency in this mission. She wants us to complete it quickly.”
“We do have the horses,” I repeated. “And I think Lena’s right. We need to finish this quest quickly. So, the southern coast. Emeline, how long will it take us to get there?
”
“Well,” Emeline replied as she looked over the map. “We could be there by nightfall. Maybe take a room for the night and then start the search for the chalice first thing in the morning.”
“And Maruk can soak his tired old bones,” Lavinia teased.
“You know,” Maruk said thoughtfully. “Many of those places along the coast do offer a relaxing soak in seawater and kelp.”
“They are divine,” Yvaine added. “They do wonders for the skin, especially if you’re prone to acne and such. The ones with lavender oil added to the water are excellent for relieving tension.”
“Oh, I could use some tension relief,” the orc declared.
“So are we going?” Dehn demanded.
“Yes!” we all yelled back.
“All right!” the halfling cried cheerfully. He stomped off towards the forest, yelling happy obscenities at everything he passed.
“Should we tell him he’s going the wrong way?” Aerin asked.
“I’ll do it,” Lavinia volunteered as she took off after Dehn.
The rest of us turned towards the path we’d followed to the lake and set off. Lavinia and Dehn caught up with us as we were mounting our horses. Merlin followed in their footsteps, back to his normal puca form. He hopped onto Aerin and then snuggled into the hood of her cloak.
“Poor baby must be very tired,” Aerin cooed. Merlin chirped his agreement, and Aerin passed him a handful of dried fruit. “Just don’t leave any crumbs in there.”
We returned to the main road, with Emeline and Lavinia in the lead. Lavinia knew these roads well, and she soon had us on the main coastal road. The panthera and the ladona spent much of the trip with their heads together, examining the small map in Professor Hayle’s book, as well as a larger one that Emeline had pulled from her pack.
Dehn rode immediately behind them, humming a song and swinging his blade. His patient pony ignored his demands for more speed and stuck to its spot behind the leaders. Aerin and I were next in line, and I had taken her hand in mine as soon as we cleared the forest. She had smiled at me and pulled her horse close enough that our thighs rubbed together.
